US, China, trade retaliatory trade actions

US, China, trade retaliatory trade actions

Today, June 15th, the Office of the US Trade Representative announced that beginning July 6th, CBP would collect 25% duty on a list of just over 1100 HTS numbers from China. The agency produced its first list at the end of April and after hearings and public comment, removed several hundred numbers from the list.

The list announced today is a combination of approximately 800+ numbers representing $34 billion in imported value from that first list and nearly 300 additional numbers representing an additional $16 billion. The second list must still go through the same comment and review process.

Note that these actions are being taken not by CBP, but by the USTR in response to an unfair trade practices investigation initiated by the administration.

Shortly after this announcement, the Chinese government announced that it would retaliate and provide its own list of products that will be subject to additional duties including a list of US agricultural products.

In a late-night statement, China’s Ministry of Commerce said it would impose trade barriers of the “same scale and the same strength,” and that Trump’s tariffs were “damaging” relations and “undermining the world trade order.”

Coppersmith is placed in the position of Customs brokers and freight forwarders around the United States which is to advise our importers to review their HTS numbers for matches to these two lists and for our exporters to contact their China buyers to inquire about whether or not their goods face potential retaliatory action.

We will continue to monitor the events and provide resources for our customers to stay abreast of the situation